Brilliant Orange

Article from: www.worldclasscoaching.com
Martin Perkins and Steve Phythian from Dynamo Girls FC, based in Telscombe near Brighton, visited the Netherlands from the 10th – 13th April as part of a group of 33 mainly amateur and some professional coaches from across the UK.

The purpose of the trip was to investigate the differences between coaching, player development and club organisation in the Netherlands and the UK with special reference to youth and grassroots football.

The trip was organised by Paul Cooper of Give Us Back Our Game campaign and Bert-Jan Heijmans of the DutchUK Football School.

Throughout the trip, one phrase was to sum up the Dutch approach “In Holland, there are no secrets”.

This recurring theme saw coaches and organisers, whether at the top of the profession at such clubs as PSV and Willem II, or at amateur clubs such as RKSV Schijndel or Geldrop AEK, prepared to share their experiences and knowledge freely with each other as well as this visiting band of largely amateur UK coaches.

Thursday 10th April
We were treated to a presentation by Bert-Jan Heijmans, from the DutchUK Football School and one of the organisers of the trip, on the organisational and philosophical differences between UK and Dutch grassroots football. These include:
• Less Clubs
• More teams
• Multiple teams at young age groups
• Teams from the same club can play in the same league
• Teams are graded according to the level of ability
• Split season – up to Christmas and after January break until April
• If your team are superior or inferior to the other teams in your division, you are moved to another division where games will be closer
• Player poaching is rare
• Consolidation of resources, equipment, players, coaches, facilities, funding / sponsorship

We then had a presentation from Paul Cooper, the founder of the Give Us Back Our Game campaign who highlighted the necessity for the initiative and how, during the weekend we would see some of those principles already at play in the Netherlands.

Geldrop AEK 
We were privileged to be able to visit this local amateur club where we were impressed to see and be told of:
• Multiple pitches including a main stadium pitch with floodlights and seating
• 3rd Generation Astroturf facility with floodlights
• Club owned clubhouse, kit store, changing rooms and showers all in a very good state of repair
• Council owned ground, for which a rent is paid, but upon which the club are encouraged to develop for the benefit of the community
• 60 teams with over 800 members.
• 51 youth teams, 9 senior teams including women's team and veterans
• A full week's schedule of practice sessions for different age groups at different times
• Qualified coaches
• Bicycle racks for the players who cycle to training on the network of cycle lanes
• Professional coaches from nearby PSV Eindhoven providing clinics as in-service training for Geldrop's volunteer coaches several times a year
• Current first team squad of 18 has 10 players developed through their own youth system
• 22 players developed through the youth teams now playing professionally elsewhere
• Individual player development plans
• Technical training (see below) including Coerver Skills training
• Medical treatment for injuries

Friday 11th April
We visited another local amateur club, RKSV Schijndel, which also had fantastic facilities including an almost new, two storey club house with a main stadium pitch with covered seating and terracing, floodlights and an electronic scoreboard. There were 5 other pitches and the management committee are planning to add a new 3rd Generation Astroturf pitch in 2008/09 season.

We were there to take part in an integrated clinic showcasing 3 aspects of practice, organization, technical training and small sided games.

Initially Bert-Jan Heijmans introduced us to his ‘Magic Rectangle' an organizational structure which allows progression from warm up to practice to game without having to re-position marker cones.
He demonstrated how it could also be used to teach young players positional sense through play and a concept of ‘Protecting Your Garden'.

Using BJs structure, Paul Cooper then gave an outstanding demonstration of a range of small sided games which can be used to help young players learn the game through play. 

Finally, Cor Van Dijk, Technical Trainer took us through a series of simple yet challenging skills activities. These exercises are designed to improve:
• Ball mastery
• Coordination
• Flexibility
• Balance
• Two footedness
• And, especially, Confidence

PSV
We had been invited to visit PSV Eindhoven's training facility where we could view the first team undergoing light, fun related practice following their defeat the previous evening in the UEFA Cup against Fiorentina of Italy.

During our visit, we were spontaneously invited to receive a presentation from Edward Sturing, PSV's Head of Youth, showing how the world famous PSV develop their players.

Edward had, within the previous two days, delivered the exact same presentation to a delegation from the English Football Association, another example of the ‘No Secrets' philosophy.

Their policy is to develop the person rather than just the player as they recognise that most players will not progress to the professional ranks. Edward took us through some of the key points:

• 70% of practice at the young ages is technical including Coerver Skills
• They maintain links with top amateur clubs to scout the most promising players
• They provide coaching clinics in order to improve the skills and knowledge of the coaches at amateur clubs
– This is seen as mutually beneficial in terms of providing the highest quality of coaching for the children - 
• Work with the school to ensure good grades – If grades are not as expected, PSV provides additional tuition before practice can be resumed
• Personal Development Plans for each player (created and owned by the player with coach guidance and support)

FC Eindhoven
On Friday evening we were the guests of PSV's close neighbour, FC Eindhoven who play in the second tier of Dutch professional football and we were treated to a home win by 4 goals to 1 against AGOVV.

Saturday 12 th April
On Saturday we were again the guests of RKSV Schijndel where we were able to watch a series of games of various age groups. It was interesting to note:
• 7v7 games across the width of a regulation sized pitch. 
• No special markings but they did have mini soccer goals
• Older teams had purpose made, portable, larger goals that are smaller than full size but can be anchored to the ground
• Teams from the same club playing against each other in the same league / division
• Penalty shoot out after every game

Ben van Esch, Chairman of the Youth section of the club gave an excellent presentation on how the club is organized:
• Technical Director of Youth, Henck Bosch, works with coaches to maintain and improve standards of coaching but especially interaction with the young players
• Business Club, for local business networking and attracting sponsorship
• Presentations six times a year to local businesses to attract sponsorship
• Club development plan for 3-5 years
• Mission Statement 
• Volunteers' agreements to ensure minimum time contribution to the club
• Liaison officer dealing with PSV to ensure development of their players (they currently have 12 boys on PSV's books)
• Exit strategy for those players released by professional clubs to return to their amateur club to continue their development

Willem II vs PSV
In the afternoon we were the guests of Willem II where we watched a match between the U17 sides of WII and PSV (1-1 draw) on a training pitch. We were set a match analysis task by Bert-Jan and it was interesting to note the obvious differences in the approach and formation of the two sides and the overall strengths and weaknesses.

Following the game we were able to hold a Q&A, in Willem II's Stadium press room (they opened the ground for us !) with Harry Biemans, U19 coach for WII and previously academy coach at Sunderland FC, Martien Pennings, Technical Director for Geldrop and Harry Drummond a young English player, previously at Middlesbrough and Sunderland and now playing for Dutch second division side RKC Waalwijk on the differences between players and coaches in The Netherlands and the UK.

Broadly, observations centred on:
• Players have a greater desire to win in the UK
• Dutch players have more technical ability
• Coaches in the UK were too results driven at grassroots level
• Coaches in the UK were, generally, not so good as those in Holland, primarily as a result of poorer development, in service training and continuing coach education
• Coaches in the UK are less inclined to share knowledge and experience
• In Holland ‘There are No Secrets' !

Sunday 13th April
Once again we visited RKSV Schijndel where we were to enjoy 90 minutes of further technical training from Cor Van Dijk.

Prior to the practical session, Cor took us through a presentation outlining some of the key philosophies of his approach:

• Treat training youth soccer players as a profession – whether or not you are paid for it
• Youth soccer is an individual sport
• Technique is the foundation of youth training
• Football is Fun
• Fun and performance go together
• Players must challenge themselves
• A coach should be judged on the improvement of the players, not on results – out of 10, “make the 5 into a 7 and the 7 into a 9”

Why technique training? Good technique:
• Improves touch on the ball
• Gives players time to make tactical decisions
• Enables players to dominate an opponent
• Enables dominating players to create something for the team
• Eradicates fear
• Dares players to play as they do in practice - and succeed !

Following Cor's session we were able to enjoy a first class lunch prepared in Schijndel's excellent kitchen facility and served in the light and airy club room overlooking the main pitch.

All the coaches attending the event were filled with admiration for the approach of the Dutch to youth football, in terms of organization and coaching, for sure, but also for the No Secrets philosophy, the willingness of professional clubs to share knowledge with amateur clubs and for both to engage with and pass on their experiences to this visiting band of grassroots, largely amateur coaches. We were truly touched by the warmth of our welcome wherever we went and we returned home enriched and educated and determined to change the lot of grassroots youth football in the UK.

Surely, if we can improve the quality of the base of the pyramid, the apex will be all the stronger and if we can do so by providing a more complete and enlightened coaching experience to all the young people whom we serve, this trip will have been extremely worthwhile.


(NB The phrase “Brilliant Orange” is a reference to the title of a book by David Winner about Dutch Football and parallels with Dutch Society and certain philosophies)
www.vvgeldrop.nl
www.rksvschijndel.nl
www.fc-eindhoven.nl
http://www.skysports.com/video/0,20285,12602_3398439,00.html
english.psv.nl
english.psv.nl/web/show/id=58980/contentid=22442
vandijkmethod.com
www.rkcwaalwijk.nl
www.coerver.co.uk
www.giveusbackourgame.co.uk
www.dutchukfootballschool.tk
www.dynamo-gfc.co.uk

Martin Perkins is a Level 2 coach, also holding the Level 1 goalkeeping award and Steve Phythian holds the UEFA A Coaching Licence